Wednesday, 6 February 2013

Are We Moving Backwards?

The news about 14 pigmy elephants poisoned in Sabah recently really bothers me. While the facts behind this unfortunate incidence are still being investigated, the fact that people do not have any feeling of guilt to commit such despicable act reflects the truth about how low we could go as a society.

Source: CNN

When we talk about achieving Vision 2020, many would be talking about the target GDP per capita or the wealth that will be enjoyed when the target is achieved. I believe, many do not really know the real aspiration. I tried to Google the vision but could not find the link to any official source. Perhaps what is recorded by Wikipedia here would remind us about the vision.

One of the challenges envisaged before we could achieve the vision is to establish a fully moral and ethical society (Challenge 4). The poisoning incidence certainly does not reflect a society which observe high moral values. If endangered animals could be killed, perhaps for profit motives, then we are really sinking towards the dark side of humanity. This is what Allah revealed in the Quran "We have certainly created man in the best of stature; Then We return him to the lowest of the low, Except for those who believe and do righteous deeds, for they will have a reward uninterrupted (AT-Tin: 4-6).

Certainly I am not the expert to identify the root causes of this moral decay but as some had said the past, a fish roots from the head. Maybe those who are looked upon by the society have not been walking the talk when it comes to moral and ethical issues. Some say nice things on the advice of their media advisors but behave the opposite, reflecting the real values that they believe in.

As a society, we cannot fault our leaders. They are up there because we sent them there. Their values reflect the values believed by the majority of our people who are eligible to decide. So, if we feel the society is sick, it could be because we are sick ourselves, maybe not physically but values-wise.